Twitter..

After reading Pete Fraser's recent blog he suggested following some people on the social networking site Twitter. As a media student I do pay attention to my own twitter account and have decided that following some of Pete Fraser's suggestions can only benefit me and my group.

I have decided to follow Julian McDougall (@JulianMcDougall) as he wrote the OCR textbook for media studies and tends to tweet useful links for A2 students.

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

These points are taken from Andrew Goodwin writing in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (Routledge 1992)
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (Stage performance should be used for my video as it is of a rock genre)
2. There can be some kind of relationship between lyrics and visuals.
3. There should be a relationship between music and visuals
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motif which recur across their work.
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (Use of voyeurism)
6. Often intertextual reference is used.

Tips from Miss Poulten

In lesson our teacher, Miss Poulten showed us a short PowerPoint with some tips for our videos on it. These were the given tips;

Lip Syncing
- Know your lyrics (One mistake could ruin the entire look of the video).
- Pronunciation (Words need to be clear to the viewer).
- Mouth what it sounds like.
- Only lip sync the lead singers words not the backup as it can ruin continuity.
- Play the song whilst miming.

When we practised lip syncing we also found it easiest to actually sing the song as that way you mouth the words clearly and do not need to think about what you are doing. As long as you know the words to the song, our tip should work.

Lyrics
- Lyrics tends to establish a general mood, feeling or sense of subject matter, rather than offering coherent meaning.
- Key lines may play a part in the associated visuals but rarely will a music video simply wholly illustrate the lyrics. Remember mise-en-scene.

Music
- Take note of the tempo and pay attention to this during editing.
- Repeat with the beat.

Genre
- Some music videos do transcend genre while others can be categorised.
- Some music channels focus on genre, pay attention to this and think of what channels your video will be played on.
- Show genre conventions through; Mise-en-scene, narrative themes, performance, camera & editing style

Camerawork
- Take note of your camera movement, angles and shot distance.
- Camera movements may accompany the movement of the performers or be used to create a dynamic feel or disorientate.
- Close ups of the singer usually dominate.

Editing
- Usually fast paced, pay attention to the pace of your song.

Composition Practice for Performance

In Fridays lesson we also practiced where each of the four band members would stand in our real video. We have decided to use our school stage, however we are going to get a black sheet at the back of the stage as the current curtains are very dull. We decided to put the stage in black and white (similar to Jay-Z's '99 Problems' video) because the school curtains and stage do not conform to our genre and look very dismal. We placed ourselves in each position and even though the video was meant to only be short we all improvised and had a laugh with it and it came our much better than we thought. So here is the video featuring Molly as guitarist, Sarah as singer, Aimie on drums and myself on bass. In our real video we are either having two guitarists or the lead singer will also play guitar similar to Kings of Leons' line up.

Lip Syncing Practice

On Fridays lesson we decided to get some practice with me lipsyncing as it is very difficult to master. A lot of the time it is not obvious enough what people are saying but sometimes it can be over the top especially with softer sang words.



After watching it we realised it is slightly out of time. This is because we have accidentally fit my lipsyncing with a different part of the song I synced to. Overall, I think the scream managed to fit well enough without looking over the top.

Our Video from Richmix

When we went to Richmix we took our flip cameras with us to document the day, the video is quite amusing as we had such a fun and interesting day;

Trip to Richmix (Afternoon Session with Corin Hardy)

After Liz Kessler we had a session with director Corin Hardy. Corin started off directing with an obsession with monsters and creatures which he used animation to show. He was a very inspiring speaker as I could relate to him as he took the same A-Level subjects as myself and is in a career I would want to pursue in.

Of all the videos Corin showed us my favourite was The Horrors 'She is the New Thing' which is very creepy and Gothic due to the ink drawings throughout. I had seen the video before but after hearing Corin's story of the video it made it even more interesting that ever before. He told us that it took him and a friend 3 weeks to illustrate all the drawings and that each of the drawings were pinned up drying in Corin's house. For every 3 seconds of footage there is a different animation, I really like the effect it creates as it makes the band look more animate and the drawings look spookier as they are slower.

Here is the video;


Before we finished our morning session with Pete Fraser he set each of the 7 schools and colleges a task to create a pitch for a music video for the song 'God & Satan' by Biffy Clyro. We were played the song and given our lunch break to create the pitch as a school and to elect a spokesperson to present our pitch during the afternoon session to Pete Fraser, Liz Kessler and Corin Hardy.

As we had our flip cameras we managed to film our pitch. Dominique and I did it because we were both nervous about speaking in front of people, here's our pitch and the feedback;

Trip to Richmix (Afternoon Session with Liz Kessler)

The afternoon session began with Liz Kessler speaking to us about her job as a music video producer. She spoke about her most recent project which had been shot the day before for alternative/rap duo Chiddy Bang in Central London. She explained there were many difficulties shooting in a public place but the video managed to work with determination. Not many people had seemed to have heard of Chiddy Bang however I enjoy their music and will keep a look out for the video when editing is completed.
Liz continued to explain how a video is made; someone commissions a directing and production company to work with the record label, they then make up a concept for the music video, it then moves on to the director to be produced, the band do not always have input in their videos. In a later talk Corin Hardy went on to mention that the bands first video from a new album is often not their own work whereas their third or fourth will be.

Here is a video that Liz Kessler and Corin Hardy worked on together for Paolo Nutini's 'Pencil Full of Lead'. This is an example of a music video where the artist doesn't want to star but wants to be present. Corin and Liz are both featured in the video when the back room is shown. Corin is on the left and Liz is on the right;


Another video Liz produced is 'Cash in my Pocket' by Wiley where he decided he did not want to be on the video on the day and the crew needed to improvise without him.
I think the video is outstanding considering the conditions, also it is all filmed in one long shot with the same camera using many actors. Here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6bNKS8QAjM.

Liz Kessler also introduced us to finance for music videos. Lissie's video for 'Everywhere I Go' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyJqqgNjSbI) cost £28,000, due to importing, filming, hiring and sending back an elephant.

To finish Liz's presentation we were shown 'Changes' by Will Young.

Visit to Rich Mix: Pete Fraser (MTV to Youtube; Rise of Music Videos)

Pete Fraser moved on to show us a history of music videos. He began by showing us 'Frim Fram Sauce' by Nat King Cole which was written in 1945.
We were shown the video also. The video shows the beginning of a trend of voyeurism in music videos. At 0:38 you can see Nat King Cole watching himself on a jukebox.



The jukebox that Nat King Cole is shown on was called a 'Soundie' and was popular in America in the 1940's. Pete also showed us the 'Scopitone' which was a jukebox used in Europe after WW2. It would play music videos similar to the Soundie.



We were shown another old music video from The Beatles for their song 'Can't Buy Me Love' to modern music videos such as '99 Problems' by Jay-Z. I had seen this video a few times before but not all the way through however seeing it displayed on such a large scale on screen made it much more interesting. I think the video is very creative and original with the black and white running throughout. A particularly great shot in the video is where Jay-Z is walking along a bridge shown with low angle shot so that the bridge is moving as well as he walks, this is shown at 0.33 in the below video. A use of voyeurism is shown in this video which conforms to the stereotype for a rap video, Jay-Z is shown on screen in the street at 0.35.
Both these shots are used within the first 40 seconds of the video. By the time the video reaches 35 seconds in there has been 56 shots shown. I think this shows how fast paced a music video must be to create interest.


Not all videos use voyeurism, it often depends on the genre. Pop, rap and hip-hop are the videos that use voyeurism the most due to it being the most mainstream music types. Both these videos show a use of voyeurism as well as representation of women as sexual objects.

It is shown here in 50 Cents video for 'Candy Shop';


And in a pop music video for Madonna's 'Open Your Heart';


Pete Fraser also showed us one of the first high budget music videos by Michael Jackson for 'Thriller' which began a trend for many black artists to have outstanding music videos. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_MuUcxHATo)

We finished on being shown Andrew Goodwin's Analysis of promotional music videos of what should be expected from a music video;

- Genre Characteristics - obvious expectations of the different genres.
- Relationship of music/lyrics with visuals - amplify the lyrics rather than simplifying them and illustrate the lyrics.
- Intertextuality - refer to films/other music videos/theatre/books/etc.
- Star Image - emphasis on the star's image
- Voyeurism - idea of looking and observing

Visit to Rich Mix: Pete Fraser (Len Lye - A Colour Box)

On Tuesday our media class visited Rich Mix arts centre in Shoreditch to be part of their educational session called "From MTV to YouTube: Studying Music Video".

The morning session consisted of a presentation from Chief Examiner for OCR A-Level Media Studies, Pete Fraser. This presentation was very helpful for us and we were shown videos which Pete had moderated and enjoyed himself. Peter's presentation was based on the history of the music video, codes and conventions as well as top tips for making our own video.

Pete first showed us what he believes should be considered the first ever music video called A Colour Box by the artist Len Lye (1935). The video shows experimentation with colours and patterns on screen to represent music;



Whilst watching the video I immediately thought of a video I had previously seen on YouTube. I am unsure if it is the original music video or if it is fan made however it does show similiarities to the Len Lye experiment;



I also thought of the video when a screen shot of Bob Dylan's "Homesick Subterranean Blues" was shown by Pete due to how the lyrics are shown clearly in the video.


Pete showed us a modern video that also uses the same techniques as 'A Colour Box' as bright visuals work with sound. I think in this video by The Go! Team gives a very vintage feel using such techniques;

More Ideas for Music Video

After another group meeting we decided to write even more ideas down so that we do not lose track. Here is our list of specific shots we want to include in our music video;

Group Meeting & Storyboarding Practise

Over half term we storyboarded the first few seconds of On Call by Kings of Leon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DK_8VZm_Dg&ob=av2e) to practise for when we storyboard for our own video. We found that even though the song begins very slowly there are still a variety of different camera shots to add interest despite the slow, instrumental beginning.



All of us agreed that we could use a similar shot to that of the close up shot of the bands feet walking past a camera on the ground as it is unclear who each person is until their faces are shown. We want to use this shot with a boys feet being followed by a girl in red heels who represents the "charmer" in our video.

Audience Theory & Hypodermic Syringe effect

Audience Theory
Audience theory is an element of thinking that developed within academic literary theory and cultural studies.
With a specific focus on rhetoric, some, such as Walter Ong, have suggested that the audience is a construct made up by the rhetoric and the rhetorical situation the text is addressing. Others, such as Ruth Mitchell and Mary Taylor have said writers and speakers actually can target their communication to address a real audience. Some others like Ede and Lunsford try to mingle these two approaches and create situations where audience is "fictionalized," as Ong would say, but in recognition of some real attributes of the actual audience.

Hypodermic Syringe Effect
The hypodermic syringe model is a model of communications also referred to as the "magic bullet" perspective, or the transmission-belt model. Essentially, this model holds that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in 1930s behaviorism and is largely considered obsolete today. The hypodermic syringe theory implied that mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on their audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change.